


One

by savvyliterate



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2012-09-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 04:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was something River Song couldn’t change. She and the Doctor had researched, cajoled specialists and did everything they could to change Amy and Rory’s future. But to do so, it meant they would have to go so far back into Amy’s timeline that it most likely would affect River’s existence.  They would always just have one daughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One

**Author's Note:**

> This contains major spoilers for "Asylum of the Daleks." As for Oswin, we're still not sure if the Oswin introduced at Christmas is some earlier version of Oswin Oswald or an ancestor named Clara Oswin. So, I'm hitting middle ground and having the Doctor and River just address her as Oswin, covering first and last name.

_March 2014_

“So! How’d you like to be a big sister?”

River’s fork hovered just above her salad as she nearly gasped at Amy across the table they’d managed to grab at the crowded Pret. “I’m sorry?”

“Me and Rory.” Amy kicked River’s foot under the table. “We’re trying to have a baby. Oh, don’t look so worried. We love you so much. But, you know, it’s time. It’s been a couple years since Demon’s Run, and we’re in a good place now. You know Rory. He’s wanted kids ever since we were crawling over the playground. I don’t want many. Just one more. Maybe two. We’ll have to see. I don’t remember much about giving birth on Demon’s Run, so I’ll probably change my mind once I go through it properly. Anyhow, we want a chance to raise a child. The way we weren’t able to raise you.”

“Well, you did, in a matter of speaking.”

“Yes, but it’s different when your daughter’s the same age as you, and is telling you horror stories through the toilet stall door the day you got your first period about bleeding so much that you’ll turn into a zombified husk.”

River covered her smirk by taking a sip of water. Really, that had been a good one.

“We just want a chance,” Amy finished. She tilted her head as she tore open the bag of crisps that came with her meal. “You know something, don’t you? I recognize that look now. Spoilers, right? Don’t tell me, don’t tell me. I want it to be a surprise.”

“You know I support you and Rory in whatever you do,” River replied, figuring it was the safest answer. “So will the Doctor. He’s a giant kid himself.”

“Which means I’ve had plenty of practice.” Amy raised her water glass. “To the growing Pond family!”

River raised her glass as well, clinked it against Amy’s and stared at her salad, no longer hungry.

Amy peeked under the top bread slice of her sandwich. “Oi!” she said, shoving away and marching up to the counter. “I asked for no mayo!”

And while her back was turned, River closed her eyes and allowed herself one shuddering sigh.

\-----

_April 22, 2014_

“Well, in the linear sense, it’s our third anniversary,” the Doctor said as he gave River a bouquet of snapdragons outside of her parents’ house. One of the blooms reared its head and snapped at the button on the light, spring jumper she wore. “Bit later for me. For both of us, I suspect.”

“Just a bit.” She smiled fondly at the flowers. She risked losing a finger and lightly brushed one of the petals. The blossom reared its head, and with the flick of a fingernail, she had it back in submission. “Thank you, my love.”

“Shall we, dear?” He gallantly took her arm. “To the Ponds! How’re they doing?”

She leaned into him and wondered when in time they were. They hadn’t compared diaries, but she knew it was some time before … well, before. Before Manhattan. That’s how she marked it in her mind. There was before Manhattan and after Manhattan, and that was when the Doctor started changing his wardrobe. His way of coping with the loss. “They’re trying to have a baby,” she ventured.

He stared long and hard at the Ponds’ front door. “I see,” he murmured.

“You already know,” she surmised, relieved that he was far enough along to know that much.

He didn’t say anything, but the hand covering hers tightened. So many hopes and dreams, River thought, and in a few months they would be shattered. They shared a sad smile, then the Doctor bounded ahead to ring the doorbell.

That evening with Amy and Rory was one of the best acting jobs they’d ever pulled off.

\-----

_July 2014_

“I don’t get it.” Amy paced the living room while River sat at the table, absently paging through a book she’d already read 36 times and knew by heart. “It happened right away with you, but we’re not on the TARDIS either. Well, we’ve tried. Do you realize how bad the Doctor’s sense of time always is?”

River merely arched an eyebrow.

“Right. Of course.” Amy absently fiddled with a lock of hair. “It’s been more than a year, River. I’m 25. I’m not that old. I was barely 22 when I had you.”

River bit her lip. Don’t make me say something, she prayed under her breath. Please, please, don’t make me say it. Everything in her was poised to run away, but she forced herself to remain at the table. Her fingers flicked the page in the book nervously.

“In any case, I’ve scheduled an appointment with the doctor. I need a physical anyhow, we can make sure everything’s OK.” Amy took the seat across from River. She fiddled with her mug of coffee, darting glances at her. “Everything is OK, right?”

“Amy …”

“I know. You can’t tell me.” Her voice went a little high-pitched, a bit desperate. “But … you know something. Don’t you?”

Tears burned in the back of River’s eyes, and it took every ounce of self control to keep them at bay. There was such a fine line between revealing the future and changing it completely. But this was something she couldn’t change. She’d looked into it. That night after she and the Doctor celebrated their anniversary with her parents, they had researched, cajoled specialists and did everything they could to change Amy and Rory’s future. But to do so, it meant they would have to go so far back into Amy’s timeline that it most likely would affect River’s existence. She’d made it clear to the Doctor in the days after Demon’s Run that she greatly valued said existence, thank you very much. 

So, she met her mother’s eyes and was as honest as she could be. “I think you need to see the doctor.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Mum, I can’t decide if you’re a pessimist or Scottish.”

“Same thing.”

River managed a weak laugh at that.

Amy stared into her mug. “Will you go with me?”

She shouldn’t. Everything screamed within River’s mind to turn Amy down. It was Rory’s place to go, not hers. But, she knew what was coming and what already had happened, and there was no way around it. She needed to find out somehow. “Dad needs to come, too.”

“Fine.”

\-----

Years earlier in her timeline, River arrived in her parents’ home covered head to foot in soot. “Right, that didn’t go entirely as planned,” she commented as she poked at singed curls. “Amy? Rory? Are you home? I need to borrow some scissors. Had a run-in with the Slitheen and a bit of fire. I’m not sure I’ll ever get the smell out of my clothes.”

She descended the stairs to find Amy and Rory sitting apart from each other. Rory was at the table, head in his hands. Amy had thrown herself on the couch, hugging herself as if to ward away the world. Her gaze snapped to River’s, and she hugged herself harder.

“Where were you?” Amy snapped. “You were supposed to go with us.”

“Go with you where?” River immediately pulled her diary out of her belt pouch. She flipped through it quickly, trying to remember if she had something scheduled at this particular point in time. Her gaze flicked to the wall calendar. July 2014. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Oh, that’s rich. It figures I’d get a version of you that didn’t know,” Amy said bitterly. “That’s all we’re going to get, isn’t it? You flitting in and out, one time to another, things never being in the same order. Oh, pop in on old mum and dad whenever you want. It’s not like we actually want to see our only child or anything.”

“Amy,” Rory dragged his hands down his face. “It’s not River’s fault.”

“Of course not,” Amy snapped at him. “It’s not River’s fault. It’s the Doctor’s fault.” She laughed bitterly. “It’s his fault, but it’s not at the same time.”

“It’s nobody’s fault, Amy.”

“There’s got to be someone to blame!” she screamed at Rory.

Fear churned in River’s gut as she slowly replaced her diary. “What happened?”

Amy pushed to her feet and strode to the window. She jerked her head at a pile of papers on the table. River silently crossed the room and picked them up. It was a detailed report from a gynecologist, medical records showing that Amelia Williams was not producing viable eggs. No worse, she realized with dread. Her ovaries contained no eggs at all. 

“It’s a known method of sterilization in the 52nd century,” River said, her voice hollow. 

“So, it was Demon’s Run,” Amy said flatly.

River hesitated, then pulled out her tablet. Data. She needed data. She keyed in a search, looking for the detailed medical records Madame Kovarian would have kept on Amy. She’d done that with herself, after all -- as Melody, Mels and that brief period she’d held River captive so she could kill the Doctor. She’d long ago patched her system with the TARDIS data files, and it didn’t take long before she accessed the necessary information. It didn’t surprise her that the Doctor had taken those records with him from Demon’s Run.

She found it easily enough. The date of her birth, 11 March 5163. Details on the amount of time Amy was in labor, basic vitals for Amy and the baby. A notation that post-birth, a standard sterilization had been ordered for Amelia Pond by Madame Kovarian. “It was Demon’s Run,” she confirmed. “Kovarian ordered it.”

Amy didn’t say anything for a moment. “Could you go, please?”

“Amy,” Rory said, his gaze moving back and forth between his wife and his daughter.

“Both of you. Just go. Get out!” she screamed.

“Amy, we can deal with this.” Rory reached for her, but Amy knocked his hand away.

“I said to leave.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving messy trails of makeup. “Do either of you not comprehend that? Go!”

“Dad,” River murmured, pushing her own aching hearts aside at the devastated look on her father’s face. Reluctantly, he followed River into the foyer. He pushed his hands through his hair and rocked on his heels. “I don’t know what to do, River.”

“I don’t either.” She hugged him, because she needed one so badly and sensed he did as well. He squeezed her so hard that for a moment, she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t mind. She refused to allow herself the brief freedom of crying, just a little bit. Rory shook as he cried into her shoulder, and they comforted each other the best they could. “I’m so sorry,” she managed.

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask for any of this, and when Amy calms down, she’ll remember that too.” Rory dug out his handkerchief and handed it to River. He sniffed a bit. “It’s just …”

“You always wanted more kids.”

“Yeah.”

“There’s plenty of kids out there who need a family,” River reminded him. “You and Mum are young. There’s a lot of time to start a family, it’ll just be in a different way.”

“I don’t think I’ll suggest that to her right now.” Rory darted a nervous glance at Amy. Her posture was rigid as she stood at the window. 

“No. Give her time. You both need time.” River dug in her pouch, pulling out her spare vortex manipulator. She pressed it into Rory’s hand. “If you need me, either of you, use this. It’s pre-programmed to take you to my cell in Stormcage. There’s a chameleon circuit built in, so you won’t be seen by the guards. If I’m not there, wait. I’ll know if it’s been used if I’m not there.”

Rory nodded and stuffed the manipulator into the pocket of his leather jacket. “We love you, you know.”

“I love you too.” She kissed her father’s cheek and hastily programmed her vortex manipulator. She managed a smile for him as she disappeared.

It took a moment of expert programming, an educated guess and drawing on her deep link with the TARDIS. But when River opened her eyes, she found herself in the console room, two figures huddled over the monitor talking so fast that she could barely keep up with them. 

The Doctor looked up, and River nearly sobbed with relief. He was dressed in more formal Victorian wear, but he still wore that blessed bow tie. It was past her parents’ time on the TARDIS. She didn’t know the circumstances, only that he’d stopped wearing his tweed after they’d left for good. His eyes lit up. “Hello, dear! Unexpected surprise! We were just trying to hack our way into Los Alamos for a bit of sport.” He frowned, scanning her from head to foot. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

With that, River finally allowed herself to cry.

\-----

It seemed there was nothing that a good cry, a shower and a few hours of sleep could rectify, River thought as she woke up after a couple hours of desperately needed sleep. She rolled over to see the Doctor sitting at the foot of the bed, one hand absently rubbing her calf above the blankets while he turned pages in his book with the other. Everything in her loosened a bit more. His reading meant he’d stayed on the TARDIS while she’d been asleep, and that gesture never failed to make her heart turn into a little puddle of goo.

She stirred just enough for him to look up. “Hello, sweetie.”

“You’re awake! Good!” The Doctor slammed his book shut and rolled to his feet. “I told Oswin we were going to Persa 2. They have a renowned sculpture made of tin, and I want to see it be built. First, tea.” He bounded to the door and stuck his head out. “Oswin!”

“No, no, don’t.” River pushed herself up. “Sweetie, please, we need to talk.”

“Wait a sec, Oswin!” He pulled the door shut and gave her a long, considering look. “Where did you come from?”

“My parents. July 2014.” She saw the sadness in his eyes. “I just found out they can’t have anymore kids.”

He didn’t say anything. She climbed out of bed and started to rummage through the wardrobe for clean clothes.

“Doctor, I pulled her medical records from the TARDIS. I saw what Kovarian did to to my mother. Standard procedure sterilization, designed to remove the eggs from the human body but keep the other organs intact so normal biological functions are maintained.” He knew all of this, but she needed to talk it out. It felt better than the silence. “They would have added synthetic eggs as part of that, ones that act as a placebo, but 21st century scans wouldn’t be able to detect them. It’ll just show nothing in her ovaries. But it’s why Amy kept having periods. What a curse, to do such a thing.” She stripped off her pajama top and turned to the Doctor. “I have to know ...”

“If they did it to you, too.”

She closed her eyes. “Yes,” she breathed.

“It’s entirely possible,” the Doctor ventured. “I’m almost certain they did it on your second regeneration, but we’d need to double-check your medical records.” He blushed. “But … ah … we learned the hard way regarding certain things.”

River smiled warmly at him now. Bless, she thought. Yes, they had learned the hard way. River had enough human in her that when they’d consummated their relationship from her perspective, they found out her regeneration had restored her hymen. It wasn’t a big deal, but still an unexpected moment. She’d spent the rest of their evening cracking terrible jokes about being deflowered and the universe’s oldest virgin, just to see the Doctor blush and apologize profusely before taking her for her favorite ice cream.

She dressed, and they slipped to the med bay without running into Oswin. River hadn’t been around the girl much but liked her immensely. She suspected her older self had been involved with Oswin boarding the TARDIS, because the Doctor never talked about her first trip.

River situated herself on the examination table while the Doctor rummaged up the proper scanners. She used a tablet to look up her medical records as Mels Zucker while machines whirled and hummed above her exposed abdomen. “Found them,” she said after a moment. She showed the screen to the Doctor. “Standard sterilization performed when I reached puberty. In 2002, it looks like.” She furrowed her brow. “I don’t remember. I’m not surprised. What have you found?”

“See for yourself.” The Doctor turned the monitor toward her. 

River sat up and studied it. “Normal,” she murmured. “Everything’s normal. I don’t get it.”

“You never let them do a medical exam in Stormcage,” the Doctor reminded her.

River grinned. That’d been the first rebellion among many. She wondered if the doctor’s fingers had healed yet. “Sterilization is standard procedure among female inmates with life sentences,” she agreed. “But I never let them get near that part of my body. I’m surprised Kovarian never ordered a second after I was kidnapped from Luna.”

“Could be one of many things.” The Doctor swung the monitor back to him. “You were a hybrid, so they might have thought the one they did when you were Mels stuck. Maybe they didn’t have time. Or …”

“They were hoping I’d get pregnant by you once they realized we were together.” Everything in River went cold. “Oh god. They’d taken that baby too.”

“If Melody Pond was a flawed weapon, the child of River Song and the Doctor could possibly be perfected,” he agreed. “A part-Time Lord and a full Time Lord creating something very, very new. If you couldn’t kill me, they’d see if they could use you the same way they used Amy.”

River’s fingers curled into fists, nails digging painfully into soft skin. “Then we need to sterilize me.”

The Doctor stared helplessly at her. “River …”

“Sweetie, if I get pregnant, the Church will come after that child. They’ll use him or her against you, no matter what. They’re not stupid, I’m sure they’re going to figure out eventually that you didn’t die in Utah.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to give them that chance.”

It would mean so many things, River thought. It meant that they wouldn’t be able to have children of their own, that eventually the Doctor would be alone. But better that than to use the child as a weapon? She thought of Amy and Rory and the decision they’d made to have a second child. It’d been a risk for them as well. With her and the Doctor alive, what would stop the Church from trying again with a second Pond child? Or any other child at that. She rubbed her stomach. 

“It wouldn’t matter, would it?” she asked him.

“Most likely not,” he replied. “But, it’s your body. Your choice.”

And he’d let her do it, River realized. Because while he wanted a family as much as she wanted one some day, they both knew the risks of having children. And still … “It wouldn’t matter,” she conceded. “They could use another child. They could use anyone.” She absently rubbed her stomach again and felt the pulse of the TARDIS run through her. No, she wasn’t going to let Kovarian take this away from her as well.

\-----

Six weeks later in her timeline, River was figuring out where she wanted to place a bronzed ram’s horn she’d brought back from an expedition on her cell wall when she heard the sizzle and crackle of a vortex manipulator. Startled, she nearly dropped the horn when she spotted Rory standing on the other side of the cell bars, looking lost and confused. “Dad?”

“River.” He spun to her, and she spotted the tear tracks running down his cheeks, the red eyes. As quickly as she could, she dug out her tablet, rerouted the security cameras and used a sonic she’d swiped from the Doctor to get the cell door open. Then he was in her arms, and he was sobbing as if his world had ended. 

“Amy,” he hiccuped. “Amy. She ordered me out of the house … she … River, she wants a divorce.”

Something crumbled and withered away inside River as she stared at the steady blinking light of the rerouted camera. No. No, no, no, no, no, this wasn’t happening. Amy and Rory were not divorcing. This just wasn’t possible. It was always them, always those two. Ever since they were children, they had adored each other. Rory’d been more expressive, far more vocal. But Amelia Pond loved Rory Williams more than anything, that was a cold, hard fact. Legs boneless, she managed to get them over to the cot before sinking down on it. She let Rory, cry, forced her own tears to harden and buried them deep, just like the terrible day they’d found out what happened at Demon’s Run. 

In the end, River managed to coax a sleeping tonic into Rory, and he took it gratefully. Hands shaking, she unstrapped the vortex manipulator on his wrist and placed it on her own. She figured out the date from a receipt in Rory’s pocket and leaped back to August 2014.

She found Amy sitting at the table with a mug of coffee between her hands, a whiskey bottle beside it. She flicked River a glance before returning her attention to the mug. “I don’t need a lecture,” she said coldly.

“I’m not going to lecture you. I just want to make sure you’re OK.”

Amy absently waved at her coffee and the alcohol. “You’ve played the role of the prodigal daughter, now leave me alone.”

River ignored her, pulled out the chair opposite Amy’s and sat at the table. Six minutes and 17 seconds ticked by before Amy raised her gaze to stare at River’s chin. “Is Rory safe?”

“He’s in my cell at Stormcage. Ironically, probably the safest place he could possibly be.” She thought about pushing, then decided against it. She knew Amy Pond. Push her so far and she’d either get lucky and get results … or get shut out entirely. River weighed her options. Years ago, when she was Mels, she knew how to get Amy to talk. But this was different. This hurt ran so deep, so intimately, she wondered if anything she said would get through. Maybe eventually. Not now. So, she and Amy sat together in silence as the shadows grew long and day faded into night.

\-----

Before River could begin to hunt down a second cot for her cell, the Doctor appeared with everything she needed. One glance at his outfit told her that he was from his future, from the time he was traveling with Oswin. Without saying a word about the situation, he helped her retrofit her cell to hide a second occupant. They used a portable chameleon circuit and cloaking devices to ensure that the guards would only see River. 

Rory offered half-heartedly to get a hotel, and River offered to stay with him, but father and daughter never made the move to flee the cell. He used the manipulator to go to work and to arrange for the divorce, and for the first time, River didn’t go on her evening trips with the Doctor or anywhere else other than to London with Rory. She noticed the few times the Doctor dropped by that he was careful to stay out of Rory’s way, staring at him with sadness the one time he spotted him. He would park the TARDIS nearby while Rory was at work and was just simply there. There would be tea, an inquisitive Oswin always ready to distract her, and the Doctor just when she needed them the most.

River had always spent far more time with her mother, and she never realized just how much she had in common with her father. They didn’t speak of Amy, but played chess, read books, and River used the manipulator to take Rory to see some of his favorite football teams play historic games. They went to movies and the theater, both of them theater buffs. On a hunch, River took Rory to the opening of _Carmen_ in March 1875. They’d dressed in fine clothes and had a smashing evening.

At the end of it, Rory studied the moon and dragged in a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what, Dad?” River looped her arm through his as they strolled through the Parisian streets.

“For not being a good dad.” He gave her a sheepish look. “I just … it never really felt like you were our daughter. You are, I can see it in you. But, it never fully registered … I’m sorry. Me and Amy having kids. We weren’t trying to replace you.”

“I know that, Dad.” She patted his arm. “Remember, I’ve known you ever since you used to accidentally wet the bed every second Thursday.”

“There’s some things about a parent you should never know,” Rory muttered, and River laughed.

“You’ve tried so hard since Area 52, and well … I didn’t know what I had in my life other than Amy.” Rory pulled them to a stop so River could look at them. “My life has been nothing but Amy ever since we were kids. I love her so much. I’m never going to stop loving her, even though she doesn’t want to stay with me anymore. You told me, a future you, something like this. No, no, you and the Doctor are fine,” he hastened to add as River’s eyes widened, a bit of panic in them. “It’s just … you know what’s going to happen.”

“Yes,” River acknowledged, but she didn’t want to think about that day in the distant future when she met a version of her Doctor that no longer knew her, no longer loved her. 

“You told me … you told me you thought it would kill you. And I think of Amy and realize it’s the same thing. But, I’m still functioning. I’m still alive. I have you. I have my dad. He doesn’t know about this though.” Rory closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I think I’m ready to go back to London and have Amy sign the papers.”

“Are you sure?”

“She doesn’t want to be with me. But, I need to be there for you.”

\-----

Months slipped past, then a year. River kept the cell enlarged because it turned out to be pretty useful. To distract herself, she started a moonshine ring in Mississippi, joined three archaeological expeditions, and ran into an older version of the Doctor a couple times. They accidentally started the fire at the Library of Alexandria. She received letters from Rory, one from Amy and a few from her parents together -- all from different points prior to August 2014.

Then one day, the mobile she kept hidden rang.

“Could you come around? It’s October 2014,” Amy asked.

Without hesitation, River used her vortex manipulator to head to the Pond house. With surprise, she found her parents in the kitchen preparing dinner.

“Hey, you,” Amy said with a wave as she stirred tomato sauce. “Get a place setting. This is the younger you, yeah? Older you said you needed to be told, and Rory told me everything once we got back from the Asylum.”

“Asylum?” River automatically went to the cupboard to get a plate for herself.

“Yeah, the Dalek planet,” Rory supplied.

“But that place hasn’t existed for centuries. It …” It hit her. “That was you?”

“The Doctor and some girl named Oswin,” Amy replied.

River sucked in a breath. “Mother, spoilers!”

“Why?”

“Never mind.” And she thought of the young girl who traveled with the Doctor in the future and wondered if they were any relation. “You two are back together?”

“Apparently, the Doctor thinks he can fix the universe like he can fix his bow tie.” Amy mimicked the straightening of a bow tie, then passed the spoon she was using to stir the sauce to Rory. She embraced River. “I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“For awhile … I was pretending. I pretended that I never had a kid, that you didn’t exist. That Rory didn’t exist. You didn’t know, though I suspected it. Your older self’s been by a few times. I’m so sorry for not thinking of you.”

“Amy, it’s fine, I …”

“No, it’s not.” She pulled back to stare River in the eye. “I wanted nothing to do with you for awhile, because I felt in some way it was your fault. If I hadn’t had you, the infertility wouldn’t have happened. I didn’t want to see either of you. I just wanted to forget. I couldn’t give Rory kids. But, you’re my kid, too. I’ve not been a good mother to you.”

Tears welled, and River furiously blinked them back. “I understand why you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Why do you and the Doctor always think the worst of yourself?” Amy pulled her into another hug. “Of course we want you, me and Rory. We’ve always wanted you. We love you so much.”

River turned her face into her mother’s shoulder. Suddenly, she felt very young and vulnerable. It was discomforting, so she quickly pulled back and wiped the her eyes quickly. “Time can be rewritten,” she said huskily. “We can keep trying, figure out a way for you to have a baby. To have a proper family.”

“Who says this isn’t a proper family?” Rory asked, turning off the burner and joining them. 

“Hey, be proud. You’re our only kid. You’re going to get ridiculously spoiled,” Amy quipped. 

“Hello, Ponds!” The Doctor in his tweed came bounding into the kitchen, holding a paper sack. “Just popped by, wanted to see how you were …” he skidded to a halt, straightened his bow tie. “Hello, dear! Pond family reunion? I love Pond family reunions! Look there’s this resort planet that hasn’t had a war in at least 20 years. Perfect time for a trip to the spa.”

“I have work in the morning, Raggedy Man,” Amy said. 

“You’ll be back well before breakfast, Pond,” the Doctor said and ushered Amy and Rory toward the living room. “TARDIS is in there. You might need a new sofa. Give me a moment with your daughter.”

“Don’t defile our kitchen table again!” Amy called over her shoulder.

“Haven’t done that one yet. Looking forward to it!” He waited until they were gone before turning back to River. “Are you OK?”

River saw the age in his face that her parents hadn’t seen. “You’ve done whatever it was that caused my parents to leave, didn’t you?”

“Dr. Song, have you ever been told you’re too smart for your own good?” He tugged her to him and kissed her forehead. “Don’t tell them I’m doubling back on my timeline.”

“I’m not the one slipping, sweetie.” River fondly caressed his bow tie. “So, we defiled their kitchen table? I haven’t done that yet, either.”

“No time like the present!” He boosted her onto the table, and they laughed in-between kisses and some rather indecent caresses. 

“Young lady,” Rory boomed from the living room. “Don’t make me send you to your cell!”

And the Doctor and River spent the next few minutes laughing. They laughed harder when the kitchen table, already wobbly from their combined weight and whatever they had done on it at some point in the past and future, broke.

Rory grounded River. He forbade her from breaking out of her cell for three weeks and made her pay for the table. She broke out after a week of confinement but gifted her parents with a rather magnificent mahogany table -- strong enough to withstand her and the Doctor’s combined weight. They made sure to test it before delivering it to the Ponds.


End file.
